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Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

To get this weeks coffee break started, Amy brings us a post about the Paleo diet. A new book by Marlene Zuk aims to show that the Paleo diet is a misinterpretation of evolution.

Jeremy takes the time this week to wonder about the effect on sea level if all the ships in the ocean were removed. Alternatively, XKCD also wondered what would happen if you removed all the sponges.

Sarah stumbled upon this gem of a PDF book which will hopefully prove useful as she transitions from student to post doc. She also brings up the potentially scary idea that you may not own your own DNA. At least if the current patent situation remains upheld. What happens if a company can own a 15-base pair fragment of DNA?

CJ continues the discussion on DNA with an article on the recent sequencing of the HeLa genome and the continued controversy regarding the ownership and publication of an individuals genome. We continue to venture on into a strange new world with these issues.

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Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

With the official start of Spring this week, at least depending on where you are. For me, I’m currently sitting in Ithaca, NY where the high for the day is still only squeaking into the above freezing range which only makes me miss Richmond, VA right now all the more. So without further adieu, which is apparently my new catch phrase, your links for the week.

To start things off on a light and happy note. Sarah has some wonderful news that she passed her dissertation defense!! She is so excited, as she should be, that her link this week is a ton of dancing GIFs. Of note, she things either Carlton or Ace Ventura match her mood best. Congrats Sarah!

This week CJ wonders about the possibility of a gender gap in pain perception as discussed in the NYTimes article. She also thought this article gave a good break down of the process of becoming tenured and is indeed quite helpful (and makes me glad to be in the field that I am in). And finally, an opinion piece on why De-extinction would not work.

Finally, I’d like to end things with a video. I’m a big fan of TED talks and also of U2, so when I saw that Bono gave a TED talk about his passion of helping to fight to end poverty I thought it was worth a look. I loved his analogy of how poverty could end in as short a time period as about 3 more Rolling Stones farewell tours.

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

First of all, my deepest apologies for the lateness of this post. As you may know I am a 4th year medical student and today was Match Day and I was deep in the throws of celebrating the completion of 4 years of medical education as well as learning where I will be training for the next three years in Family Medicine. So, without further adieu, your links for this week.

From Noah, a video documenting several scientists as they inventory one of the worlds most biodiverse locations, the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve.

Finally, in the spirit of March Madness, from Devin comes a battle of the Mammals. “Mammal March Madness from the Mammal’s Suck blog. Although the tournament is purely fictional, the facts and natural history information given out during the extended live tweet rounds are amazing. The first rounds are already complete, but tune in for the exciting finals. Live action via twitter: @Mammals_Suck and general info via the website:”

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

To get things started, CJ found a depressing study (depending on your perspective anyway) about how your attitude can affect your health. It’s not what you would expect a study to find, but there are additional conflicting studies so take it as you will. However, she follows it up with another article about how the privatization of space flight has a long way to go before we can all reach for the stars.

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Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

My apologies for the lateness of this Korean version of the Friday Coffee Break!

From Sarah:

Starting off on a light note this article describes how dogs can “catch” yawns from humans but only after they are old enough to understand empathy and emotion. Also from Sarah, has anybody wondered why no mention of the dreaded “C” word (aka Climate Change) has come up at any of the presidential debates? This blog post from the NYTimes discusses that issue.

From Noah:

Rogue scientist and entrepreneur Russ George dumped tons of iron dust in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Canada, “calling it a “state-of-the-art study,” said his team scattered iron dust several hundred miles west of the islands of Haida Gwaii, in northern British Columbia, in exchange for $2.5 million from a native Canadian group. The iron spawned the growth of enormous amounts of plankton, which Mr. George, a former fisheries and forestry worker, said might allow the project to meet one of its goals: aiding the recovery of the local salmon fishery for the native Haida. ”

From Jeremy:

Does taking Ritalin increase individuals enhance desire for social conformity? This study here postulates that there may be some element of connection between increased dopamine levels brought on by taking Ritalin and conforming to social norms.

From Devin:

This link (which at the time of publishing this story appeared to be broken) is a tumblr page dedicated to “things I learned as a field biologist.” Hopefully the link gets fixed soon.

From Jon:

Given the overabundance of awesome links and a couple medically related ones, I’m going to end this post with a fun video! Did you know that the lyrics to Gangnam Style is a satire poking fun at the wealthy Gangnam district in Seoul and also discusses how the singer likes the kind of lady who enjoys the freedom of a cup of coffee. I figured given this connection it was only perfect to end the month of October with the Gangnam Style theme!

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Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

From Jeremy and Noah:

Apparently this particular link is so impressive it gets two recommendations! “OneZoom is committed to heightening awareness about the diversity of life on earth, its evolutionary history and the threats of extinction. This website allows you to explore the tree of life in a completely new way.”